The first thing Ian heard was a sporadic beeping sound in his ears.

Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked around. He was alone, lying in a semi-raised bed. The room was small, the walls were painted a deep gray, and there was a large window embedded in the far wall. He could see a gnarled oak tree outside, pressing its leafless branches against the glass. The dull light from outside barely penetrated the room.

Where was he? He'd never been here before – he knew that much at least. He tried to sit up, and was immediately pulled back by the gentle tug of tubes that had been inserted into his arm. He turned awkwardly to look behind him and saw a number of machines that he'd been hooked up to. The one on the left was the one that was beeping. He thought it was measuring his blood pressure. Or maybe it was his heartbeat. Was there a difference? He wasn't sure. Nora would know. He brushed those thoughts aside, trying to concentrate.

Ok, so he was in a hospital. He didn't remember ever seeing a hospital with such dark gray walls before, but what did he know? Besides, he had more important things on his mind at the moment, like why he was even here in the first place.

He was still trying to figure out what was going on when the door swung open. A man with a white coat and stethoscope came into the room. Instead of legs, the man had a long, scaly tail of deep red, banded with black and white. Coral snake, the thought popped into Ian's mind. Oh. Well, that was something he didn't see every day. Clearly, he was no longer in the human realm.

"You're awake." the doctor said. He looked a little surprised. Ian tried not to think of why it would be so shocking.

"Where am I?" he asked hoarsely. He tried sitting up again, taking care not to pull on those tubes this time. But even so, he didn't get far. He was just so weak. He fell back onto the pillows with a grunt.

"Relax." the doctor said calmly, dragging the word out just slightly. He slithered over to Ian's bedside, tail trailing on the floor behind him. He raised himself up higher on his tail, checking the machines just over Ian's head. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Ian thought about it. He'd been at David's cabin for the weekend, along with Nora and a couple friends. Nora had gone home early – something about a shadow. Ian hadn't really understood what she'd been talking about, but she was obviously terrified. So when she'd said she didn't want to spend another night there, he'd lent her his car. Ian had gotten a ride home with David the night after.

"I don't..." Ian trailed off. "I don't remember. I was in the car..."

The doctor nodded patiently, waiting for Ian to continue. But it was just so hard. Everything was all jumbled up, and there were huge gaps.

"We were driving..." Ian shrugged vaguely. "I don't know..."

The doctor nodded. He looked like that was the reaction he'd been expecting.

"You were in an accident." the doctor told him. "A fairly serious one."

Ian didn't remember any accident. He remembered the dark and the trees. The headlights were shining, lighting up the two-lane road. But that was it.

"How long... How long have I been...?" Ian struggled, not quite sure if he wanted to know.

"You've been here about three weeks." the doctor checked his notes. "Twenty-four days, actually."

Twenty-four days? He didn't even know what to do with that. How could he possibly have been here for so long? He decided to ignore it for now; he just couldn't deal with it. Besides, there was something bothering him even more.

"But... why here?" The doctor was clearly not human. And the fact that he didn't even bother to hide it let Ian know that he was very far from home. He really hoped he wasn't where he was almost certain he was.

"You were recalled." the doctor said simply. "Once your vital signs became unstable, there was too much risk to your health and safety to allow you to stay."

Ian nodded vaguely. It wasn't only his health and safety that they'd been worried about; it was the reason his leaving had been so controversial in the first place. But the doctor thankfully didn't mention that. In his current state, Ian didn't have the strength to defend his actions yet again.

The doctor left, telling Ian to get some rest. Easier said than done. He'd apparently gotten into some kind of accident and had been pulled out of the human realm to recover. That meant he couldn't contact any of his friends. Worse, he wouldn't be able to contact Nora. What would she think?

Ian was going to have to get out of here, and the sooner, the better. But as much as he wanted to, even he knew it was going to take time. He couldn't even get out of bed at the moment. So getting to an entirely different realm was going to be out of the question. For now, it looked like he was going to have to listen to the doctors.

Ian spent weeks in that hospital room recovering. He thought about Nora, wondering how he was going to get back to her. It pushed him to get through this, even when he was ready to give up. And to help stave off boredom, he seemed to have an almost endless stream of company. It seemed once word spread that he was finally awake, everyone wanted to come and hear tales about the human realm. Or, as it was known around here, the Realm of Potential.

Doctors asked him questions, and so did nurses. His horde of  brothers and sisters even managed to find their way into his room. And finally, his parents made an appearance.